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Tamil diaspora thanks Tamil Nadu Government for relief provision

02 May 2022

  • Chief Minister Stalin praised for Indian Rs. 1,230 mn worth rice, medicines, milk powder initial consignment for all Lankans
  • GTF calls for Sri Lanka to become a pluralist State
The Tamil diaspora organisation, the Global Tamil Forum (GTF), has expressed its gratitude to Tamil Nadu (TN) Chief Minister M.K. Stalin for providing humanitarian relief to all communities living in Sri Lanka. Foreign media reported on 29 April that Stalin has moved a resolution in the Tamil Nadu State Assembly, urging the Central Government to immediately send food and other essential commodities to Sri Lanka. The resolution was unanimously passed. “The State Government has decided to provide 40,000 tonnes of rice, 137 types of life saving drugs and 500 tonnes of milk powder for children, all valued at an estimated Indian Rs. 1,230 million. Stalin indicated in his speech that this was only the first instalment and called on the Tamil Nadu people to contribute generously,” the GTF said in a statement issued in this regard yesterday (2). Thus, the GTF has expressed its “appreciation” to Stalin for his “consistent effort to provide humanitarian aid from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka”, also noting engagements Stalin has had with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar on the issue. “Stalin emphasised that though he had initially announced only to help Tamils in Sri Lanka, various leaders from the Tamil community in Sri Lanka had requested that the aid be not confined only to the Tamils and that the assistance should be for all Sri Lankan citizens, which view had moved him. He added, ‘I could not control my emotions on hearing this. This is the Tamil culture’,” the GTF statement said. Therefore, the GTF has also extended its appreciation to “the many calls from the Tamils in Sri Lanka to extend Tamil Nadu aid to all deserving recipients irrespective of their ethnicity or religion”.  “We particularly would like to acknowledge the highly publicised calls from the Tamil National Alliance Spokesman, President’s Counsel and Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) M.A. Sumanthiran and Tamil Progressive Alliance Leader and Opposition MP Mano Ganesan. The GTF recognises the remarkable and hopeful developments taking place in Sri Lanka and their potential to trigger meaningful and long lasting changes in the country. Any such changes have to include transitioning Sri Lanka into a truly pluralist State where no community will be left out of the governance arrangements,” added the statement.  


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